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This was a tough race for me as well as for my teammate Freddy because just before going into this race; we were informed that the rest of the team (Hiro, Andy, Jilles) would not be joining us due to a last minute decision to pull out. Since I had planned my trip early, Freddy and I decided we would still race. Team HB was gong through an uncertain time and the mood was not great.
Freddy and I initially had real problems finding grip on the carpet but once the organizers announced that they had the wrong carpet, we understood. After a very impressive and professional carpet replacement effort, the standard ETS carpet provided the grip we expected but I was still unable to find the right setting for my car and simply ran out of time before qualifying. I did not qualify well, only made it into the C Main (with Viktor, Naoto, Martin), and in the finals had some serious bad luck getting taken out by a marshal and body tucking all the time. But you know, this is racing and its … [Read more...] about ETS Round 2 Germany February 5-7

The entire HB On-road team came to Shanghai to do a week of testing on ETS carpet which was installed at my home track RCI. Team Manager Hiro and Designer Haratune also made the trip. As I had school, I could only join the team in testing after classes. Andy, Jilles, Freddy and I had a good week of testing and development, hopefully it will bring good results in 2016.
The ETS carpet is quite different from the CRC carpet we use to have. The ETS carpet seems to have higher grip sooner and it is more consistent in terms of traction throughout the day. The black color also looks and feels nice, as if racing on asphalt.
At the end of the testing week, HPI China organized a driver meeting and a club race event that saw many HB drivers from all over China and Hong Kong attend. The event was not only limited to HB drivers but to all RC enthusiast.
After a morning driver meeting introducing the factory team members and new products, a Q&A session was part of the program. … [Read more...] about Team HB Driver Meeting – Shanghai (Dec 5)

After flying 30 plus hours back to Shanghai from Brazil, with an overnight stay at home, I flew out the next day right after school straight to Japan to race at AOC held at the famous Yatabe Arena. Crazy!
The jetlag was still there, but I was actually quite excited to switch mode from nitro to electric. The HB Team had already arrived a day earlier and since I did not have time to build my own cars, Hara-Tune helped build me couple of chassis ready to race.
I did not find it too difficult to get back into electric driving but after the first day, it was clear our team was off pace compared to others. All three of us (Jilles, Andy and Myself) struggled with the changing conditions of the track and simply had difficulties finding pace. I can only say it was frustrating!
I did not drive too well either and only manage to qualify into the C Main, while my teammates only made B. The issues I had were simply not finding the right setup in the changing conditions, which made … [Read more...] about AOC YATABE JAPAN – November 24-27

The two weeks in Brazil were days of emotional high and lows. I started out really strong early in the week posting the 4th fastest time in control practice. I felt very good about my chances to seed high and qualify into the semi-finals but then, everything started to fall apart.
First of all, the new MRX6 is a really super good car. We did not get the car until we arrived at the tracks in Brazil as this car was still in prototype phase and not everything was ready. Ai (My Mechanic) took the two days of IPD where we could not run to build the car and get everything ready. When the event officially started and I set the car down for the first time, I was amazed at how easy it was to drive and how much of an improvement it was over the previous model. Although there was a risk of running a completely new car at the World Championships without prior testing, my first tank of fuel on the MRX6 gave me plenty of confidence to compete.
As 1/8 racing depends very much on … [Read more...] about The World Championships (1/8 GP On Road) – Brazil November 12-22

Our goal this trip to Brazil was to get a better understanding of the place, the track and the race conditions. After a long journey straight from Europe, we arrived at Americana City to be pleasantly surprised how safe it was. After hearing a lot about the customs being difficult and the country being unsafe; we were very much at ease, everything went smoothly.
The track itself was a bit smaller than I expected, however, the technical difficulty of the layout was unexpected. The sweeper corner was hard to see even on a high driver stand, which was maybe around 5.5 meters tall.
Anyway... locals were extremely friendly and we had some good track time before the Warm Up race officially started.
I was disappointed at the low turnout for this event but was very focused on our goals coming here. Finding the right setup and familiarizing myself with the layout were key objectives which I believe we accomplished.
The race itself was not difficult. I managed to TQ and win … [Read more...] about Brazil 1/8 GP Worlds Warm Up Race

Event Date: July 25-26
As part of my summer racing, this year I have decided to come to the beautiful Riccione raceway for the annual Hot Race beach party race. This year with most of my races in Europe, it is honestly a great environment to be in. I arrived a few days early with my family and spent a few days sightseeing before going to the track. Nicola, the Hot Race boss organized a fun weekend for us. After a full day of practice on Thursday, we all headed to the go-kart track at night to get some real racing action. It was a very fun night. Back at the track, my Pro5 needed some tweak to the setup as something was not right. With the ETS being here a few months ago, I got a few tips in terms of the setup. However, with Ride being the official tire for ETS, we had to run Hot Race tires, which had more overall grip.
Friday was another day of practice and things didn’t improve as I was really struggling with old tires. I switched to my second car at the end of the day, which … [Read more...] about HOT RACE CUP

We arrived in Milan straight from ENS Germany, and our schedule was very tight before I head to Riccione for the Hot Race Summer Cup. We visited Cristian at Matrix tires and also Alessandro at black Tarmac Racing. And then we drove to Novarossi.
The Novarossi factory was amazing! I have been told by those who have visited before how nice it was, but seeing it with my own eyes, it was very impressive. And there is so much history behind it. I met Madame and founder Mr. Rossi himself and many others at the head office.
After lunch, Alfredo and Malick took us (myself, Ai, and my Dad) to Leno track, which was built by Novarossi. Our mission was to do testing and find the right combination to elevate my overall race package I needed. With Brazil Warm Up race coming up soon in couple of weeks, we had to try to find a solution.
After doing more than 500 laps in a hot afternoon, we finished testing but did not really find any improvements in my package. However, I want to … [Read more...] about Visit to Novarossi

I was hoping our race package would be greatly improved at ENS after a frustrating and challenging Hong Kong race a few weeks ago. But this was clearly not the case! We arrived here with great expectations in our power unit only to struggle through practice, qualifying and finally finding some competitiveness in the late round, it was a little too late. In the C main finals I felt we could bump up but was taken out by someone and thus ending my race.
I cannot really say much about this race except the overall experience was fantastic. ENS is clearly a very high level of Nitro racing and the European style tracks are different from what I am used to in Asia or the US. It was great to see old friends and meet new ones and I hope I was able to help a few Mugen drivers at the race.
We NEED to solve this challenge in our race package or else it will be difficult to be competitive. At high-level races such as ENS and soon the Worlds in Brazil, without a competitive package, … [Read more...] about ENS Nitro Series Germany

This race was perhaps the most frustrating race in my racing career so far. The entire week we struggled with overall package and there was absolutely no solution in sight. We had no pace and was clearly lacking traction compared to others.
In qualifying, I had 2 DNFs and 1 DQ due to being underweight. Flirting with not making the A Main, I had to turn in a top 2 overall finish in the final round of qualifying. I did manage to squeeze into the A-Main in 10th position on the starting grid. But overall, I knew I would not have the race pace to match Robert and Danielle’s pace. So, my goal was to fight for podium finish but it looked to be extremely impossible given Shimazaki and even the local Hong Kong drivers had a faster package overall.
When the finals started, I had a relatively clean start and went from 10th up to 6th. And after making the first few pit stops, I moved up to 4th. Shimazaki had engine issues and basically dropped out of podium contention but Marco … [Read more...] about Matrix Hong Kong Nitro Cup

Event Date: June 26-28
The ETS finale was held at the world famous Hudy Arena. The largest race of the season with over 300 entries. In the Ride modified category, there were over 130 entries along with the highest level of competition.
Thursday was scheduled for 6 rounds of free practice. With this being the biggest track that I have ran in a while, my power combination became an issue. I ran two cars so that I could figure out the car setting as well as my power. However, because the track condition was not at its highest, my car did not feel that great as I needed more overall traction. At the end of the first day, myself and hara-tune chose the better car and focused more on the setting of the power for the next day. Friday was controlled practice as well as qualifying. My car on new tires did not really have that much advantage and the car did not feel that it had enough overall traction so we had to do minor changes to the car every round.
First two rounds of qualifying … [Read more...] about ETS Finale